Dragonwilds Custom World and Server Settings Explained

RuneScape: Dragonwilds has two kinds of settings, and most confusion comes from mixing them up. World settings (world type, difficulty and the custom sliders) are chosen when you create a world and are stored in the world save. Server settings live in DedicatedServer.ini and only decide who owns the server, what it is called and who may join. This guide explains both, updated for the 1.0 release of 15 September 2026.

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Standard, Custom or Creative: the three world types

• Standard: the normal campaign experience. You choose the basic settings and whether to enable Hard difficulty. Neither can be changed after the world has been created.
• Custom: added in update 0.9 (September 2025). On the world creation screen, click Advanced in the upper left to open the world settings. Jagex now counts over 50 setting variables, and unlike Standard, a Custom world lets you adjust its difficulty and settings while you play.
• Creative: also added in 0.9. A pure building mode without survival pressure, costs or hostile monsters.

Custom and Creative worlds need their own character: you create a "Custom World" or "Creative Mode" character for them, and campaign characters cannot join a Creative world. To make room, Jagex doubled the character slots from 4 to 8.

Normal vs Hard difficulty

Hard difficulty arrived in June 2025 as a toggle at world creation. Compared with Normal:

Every custom world setting explained

Sliders move in steps of 0.1x and start at 1.0x, the normal game. Toggles start at No. This is the list documented on the official Dragonwilds wiki; Jagex changes options with updates (the Lifeward Scale slider went with the Lifeward mechanic, removed in June 2026), so the in-game menu is leading.

Player

Crafting, building and environment

Enemies

Enemies are split into ten families: Beast, Construct, Critter, Garou, Goblin, Mini-boss, Boss, Skeleton, Undead and Zamorak. Each family has three sliders from 0.5x to 3.0x: Damage Scale, Health Scale and Resistances Scale (how strongly their weaknesses and resistances apply). Lower is easier, so you can keep bosses at full strength while toning down the goblins and critters you meet on every trip.

Creative world settings

Creative worlds have two options, both off by default and locked once the world exists: No Building Stability (build as high as you like) and Friendly Fire. The rest is fixed: every building piece and recipe unlocked without material costs, infinite carry weight, maxed skills, free spells and lodestone teleports, hunger, thirst and endurance always full, no world events and no monsters that attack you.

Three custom setups worth trying

• Relaxed co-op: Sustenance and Hydration Drain 0.5x, Retain Inventory on Death on, XP Gain 1.5x and enemy Damage Scale around 0.8x. Good for groups that play one evening a week.
• Hardcore survival: Hunger Kills and Thirst Kills on, Reset Last Completed XP Level on Death on, 1 gravestone per player and Boss Damage Scale 1.5x.
• Builder with some danger: Building Material Cost 0.0x, All Building Pieces Unlocked on, Carry Capacity 3.0x and Major World Event Frequency 0.0x, so nothing wrecks your base while you still fight and explore.

DedicatedServer.ini: the server settings

Since update 0.11 (31 March 2026) you can run your own server with the free Steam tool "RuneScape: Dragonwilds - Dedicated Servers" (SteamCMD app 4019830, anonymous login) on 64-bit Windows or Linux. The config file is created on the first start, in RSDragonwilds/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/ on Windows or RSDragonwilds/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ on Linux. The keys sit under [/Script/Dominion.DedicatedServerSettings]:

Always stop the server before editing: changes made while it runs are lost. And there is no MaxPlayers, seed, day length or loot multiplier key, whatever some lists online claim. A dedicated server holds up to 6 players (a world hosted from inside the game holds 4), and all gameplay rules come from the world save.

Jagex asks for 2 GB of RAM plus 1 GB per player, so 8 GB for a full server. The server uses UDP port 7777 by default (a second server takes 7778), you can change it with -port=, and the launch options -log -NewConsole give you a live console.

How to run a Custom or Creative world on a dedicated server

A fresh server generates a default Standard world. The documented way to use your own settings is to create the world in the game and upload the save:

1. Start Dragonwilds, create a world with the type and settings you want and enter it.
2. Wait one to two minutes until the surroundings have loaded, then press Esc and choose Exit Game.
3. Stop the server and back up everything in its RSDragonwilds/Saved/SaveGames folder.
4. Empty that folder, but keep the folder itself.
5. Upload your .sav file from C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Local\RSDragonwilds\Saved\SaveGames without renaming it. A renamed save loses progress.
6. Start the server. It loads the newest save in the folder.

Players then search for the file name without .sav: Dragonwilds_World1.sav is found as Dragonwilds_World1. With a hosting provider you upload through the file manager or SFTP.

How players join

• World search: open Worlds, go to the Public tab and type the world name. The search is case sensitive.
• Invite code: since 1.0 the invite code is shown in the in-game pause menu and friends enter it on the world browser screen.
• Crossplay: 1.0 brought crossplay between PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. You choose per world whether it is a crossplay world, and dedicated servers have a crossplay option too.
• Same network: if the server runs in your own home, enter its local IP address in the game when you connect.

Jagex's guide notes that Steam invites to a dedicated server do not connect as intended, so share the world name or invite code instead.

HostValues does not offer Dragonwilds servers at the moment. If your group also plays other survival games, the game server overview shows everything we do host.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the difficulty of an existing Dragonwilds world?

Only in a Custom world, which lets you adjust difficulty and settings while you play. Standard worlds lock them at creation. For custom rules you start a new Custom world with a Custom World character.

How many players can join a Dragonwilds dedicated server?

Six. Jagex raised the limit from 4 to 6 for dedicated servers with update 0.11 in March 2026. There is no config key to go higher.

Where do I find my Player ID for OwnerId?

At the bottom of the in-game Settings menu, where you can copy it. Stop the server, paste it after OwnerId= in DedicatedServer.ini and start the server again.

Why can't my friends find my dedicated server?

Check the world name (the search is case sensitive), make sure the server runs the same game version as the players (update it after every patch; the version is at the top of RSDragonwilds/Saved/Logs/RSDragonwilds.log) and check that UDP port 7777 is reachable. If the server shows up but nobody can join, a router or firewall is almost always blocking that port.